Fly Away
by A. Kingsleigh
Summary: "Toothless would only be truly safe once he was off Berk, and Berk had never felt like home anyway." The world is much greater than Hiccup can possibly imagine, and he's about to discover it all. A Hiccup Leaves AU with lots of globetrotting, a little history and a twist or two of its own. Series of 100 oneshots.
1. Beginning

**DISCLAIMER: HTTYD belongs to DreamWorks Animation and Cressida Cowell.**

* * *

**-Beginning-**

* * *

"I am so..._leaving."_

The thought had crossed Hiccup's mind a few times before, but when the reality of the cheering crowds and the impossible task which stood before him sunk in, he knew at once what he had to do. He could not kill a dragon, nor could he assume that the tribe would listen to the truth if he told them. They might go after Toothless -

_No. _That was a risk not worth taking. Toothless would only be truly safe once he was off Berk, and Berk had never felt like home anyway.

He waited on pins and needles through the day's festivities, searching desperately for an opportunity to escape and make the preparations. They would leave at night - Astrid was constantly shadowing him with her axe in hand and burning hatred in her eyes. Thankfully, Stoick had called off the feast early on the grounds that the Great Dragon Killer needed his rest.

When Hiccup finally heard his father's deep snores reverberating through the house, he silently sprang from his bed and went to work. Only a few things were taken from his room - his vest, his knife, his pen and sketchbook, a compass and a map. His hand briefly hovered over the helmet, but he turned away from it.

_Should I leave a note? _There was so much that he wanted to say, and nothing that couldn't be said with the empty bed and sets of tracks they would find in the morning. Ripping a piece of paper from his book, he scribbled a short message; _I'm sorry._

Opening the window, he tossed a rope over the sill and made his way down.

His next stop was the forge, where he paused only to put on his harness and hoist the basket of flying equipment onto his back. No food - they could catch fish along the way. Wherever that meant.

Stepping outside, he hurried across the village. The lights of the watchtowers barely missed him as he headed for the bridge connecting the rocky outcropping to the mainland.

Doubts began to creep into his mind as he walked through the forest. _We might get lost. We might not catch anything. We might run into another tribe and get dragged back. _How could he survive out there if he'd barely managed to survive in here?

Stumbling over a rock and nearly falling on his face brought him back to reality. His feet had brought him to the little cove without his mind realizing it. Across the water, Toothless was groggily raising his head up from sleep and warbling out a confused but happy greeting.

With a friend, that was how.

"Hey, buddy," Hiccup said as he approached the Night Fury and checked his saddle. "You and I are taking a little vacation...forever..."

Toothless nudged his arm gently, concern apparent in his eyes.

He smiled. "It'll be okay soon." Giving everything one last examination, he climbed into the saddle and hooked himself in. "Let's go."

With a crouch and a leap, Toothless was in the air, his wings pushing him higher and higher.

When they were far above the earth, they circled the island one last time. The watchtower fires still burned brightly as Hiccup looked down on them. They still retained a bit of their once-comforting glow.

Sighing in resignation, he turned Toothless east and vanished into the darkness. _Goodbye._

It was time for a new beginning.

* * *

**NEXT PROMPT: Complicated**

* * *

**Yes, it's really happening - after more than a year's absence, I have returned to the HTTYD fandom!**

**First off, I want to make one thing very clear; this is only a side project. I'm going to use it to hopefully keep readership up while I'm planning out my next few big stories. So please don't pressure me if there aren't very many updates.**

**That doesn't mean I don't have a bunch of cool ideas for these oneshots, however. I've been wanting to try my hand at a "Hiccup leaves" AU for a while now. Globetrotting appeal.**

**You probably won't see the next installment of this for some time, but maybe it'll be worth the wait. I think it'll be. :)**

**Bye for now!**

**~ A. Kingsleigh**


	2. Complicated

**DISCLAIMER: It's very simple - if you see something you recognize, it's not mine.**

* * *

**-Complicated-**

* * *

Toothless was curled up in the back of the cave, shivering from the cold dampness of the rain, and Hiccup was watching the tiny fire he had finally succeeded in starting as though his life depended on it. Why couldn't they have lasted a single night _before_ getting into trouble?

The Vikings did not follow them, but the storm clouds had other ideas. Unable to see through the frantic downpour that attacked them from behind, they had barely managed to see the island on which they landed, let alone find the cave they were hiding in. Toothless's head was too drenched to start a fire, so they both remained chilled to the bone as Hiccup spent the better part of an hour trying in vain to make the pathetic pile of sticks he'd assembled ignite.

Using what little light he had left, he looked over his map. No sign of where they were, not even a speck. And where would they go? The Barbaric Archipelago was the only set of islands around. Dark arrows pointing to the southeast caught his eye. **THE UNKNOWN LANDS, **they were labeled, and they stopped at the boundaries of the paper as though they had hit a wall.

The doubts, which had been suppressed by the situation at hand, were resurfacing. "Toothless?" Hiccup asked cautiously. "Are...are we doing the right thing?"

His dragon was already fast asleep. _Useless reptile,_ he thought as he shook his head and briefly allowed himself to smile.

The fire began to sputter, and Hiccup started praying to every god he could think of. _Please don't go out, _**_please_**_ don't go out!_

A bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens, and as it lit up the outside world, a silhouette moving amongst the trees caught Hiccup's eye. Picking up his knife, he ventured to the mouth of the cave and gazed out. Yep - several feet away stood a tall, cloaked figure, looking up almost meditatively at the storm.

"Hello?" Hiccup called out cautiously. "Need some help?"

The stranger turned around abruptly at the sound of his voice. "What are you doing in this area of Midgard?" he asked in surprise as he came towards the cave. His voice had an unfamiliar smoothness to it.

"...It's complicated."

Toothless, meanwhile, was stirring from his slumber. Upon seeing a form he did not recognize, he narrowed his eyes and let loose a threatening growl.

Hiccup's guest looked past him into the cave. "Is that a Night Fury?"

"He's harmless, I-I swear - "

"I know." Stepping past him, the man calmly approached Toothless. _"__Stå ned, min __skapning,"_ he whispered, too low for Hiccup to hear. _"Det er I."_

Toothless's eyes widened once more, and he allowed the stranger to stroke his nose.

"You've seen one before?" Hiccup asked, looking on in wonder.

"Indeed," he said. "But not for a while."_ Not since a few **someones** decided to use them for target practice..._

"So," Hiccup said as he gestured for his new friend to sit down, "you live near here?"

The man shook his head. "I stay only until the storm abates."

Hiccup watched him more closely as he sat down and pushed back the hood of his cloak. His features were leaner than that of Vikings. He was clad in green and black, with a few hints of gold. His shiny dark hair was slicked back, not tangled or braided, and he was clean-shaven. A regal air hung about him.

His thoughts were broken by a loud clap of thunder. Both he and Toothless jumped, but the man only rolled his eyes as the corner of his mouth curled into a smirk.

"Where are you going, then?" Hiccup asked, his curiosity further piqued.

The stranger's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Where are _you_ going?"

"I asked first!"

The man's smirk grew bigger. "A boy like yourself on a deserted island, in the middle of a storm, with the unholy offspring of lightning and death for company? Your story's already more interesting." His eye fell on the open map. "Going to Berk? With a dragon?"

"Not exactly..."

Words began to slip from his mouth, and before he knew it, he was telling the stranger everything. Who he was, where he had come from and how his people had seen him. The disapproving glares of the adults and the cruel taunts of the other youths. The war against the dragons and his desire to take part. How he had chosen to spare his captured Night Fury, and the friendship which came of his decision. Placing first in dragon training and his subsequent flight.

And throughout it all, the stranger did not speak a word. There was no hint of judgement in his expression, only concentration.

"They wouldn't believe me if I told them the truth," Hiccup finished miserably, "and I can't kill a dragon. I'm just...I'm not like them."

"Good."

It was the first word the man had said in quite a while, and it startled Hiccup. "Good?"

"Impressive, actually. I'd have left years ago."

Hiccup's look of confusion was not so easily persuaded to leave his face.

The man moved closer to him. "You're _special,_ Hiccup! You've done something none of them can! Why waste your life there? They'll never change."

"I don't even know where to go..."

"What direction are you planning to travel in?"

Hiccup looked back at the map. "I thought we could go southeast, but - "

"Perfect. Leave this island at sunrise, stay on course and by noon you'll find a fair land to rest in."

"How do you know?"

The smirk returned. "This world is much more complicated than you think it."

Another loud clap of thunder shattered the mood, and the rain began to pour down even harder. Toothless, having lost whatever interest he had in the humans' conversation, fell back asleep.

"I'd follow his lead if I were you," the man said, spreading his cloak on the ground and lying down upon it. "Your worrying is needless."

Hiccup watched him hesitantly. "You really mean that."

For the first time that night, the stranger smiled. "Of course."

Although Hiccup could not have said why if his life depended on it, he found this oddly reassuring. As he curled up beneath Toothless's wing and closed his eyes, it even seemed to him that he had seen this man somewhere before...

* * *

When he awoke, the sun was just creeping over the horizon and the ground was still wet from the storm. "Come on, bud," he told his dragon as he gradually came out of his slumber and looked to where the stranger had slept. "You too, sir - "

But the stranger had vanished. In his place sat a wrapped-up fishing net, and atop that sat a rather thick, medium-sized book with a piece of parchment pinned to the leather cover. _For your travels. - L_

Hiccup flipped through the pages, and his jaw dropped.

It was a whole book of maps, but not like any maps he'd ever seen. They showed wide oceans, thousands of islands, gigantic masses of land that seemed to have no end. Was _this_ the world he inhabited?

One page, he noticed, was dog-eared. On it was a picture of Berk and the surrounding islands, stuck up in a corner. From them, a black line was drawn down to a different, larger island. _**Britain,** _the ink called it.

"Hey, Toothless, you ready to go flying?"

* * *

High above them, in a land they would never reach, their friend watched them. On that day and from every day on, the God of Mischief retained a certain fondness for Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.

And the boy had even given him an idea of what his brother's pet Giganticus Seadragonus Maximus had been up to since its release.

* * *

**NEXT PROMPT: Making History**


	3. Making History

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.**

* * *

**-Making History-**

* * *

"You see anything, bud?"

Toothless huffed and shook his head.

"Yeah, I didn't think so..."

Hiccup looked to the sky, because it wasn't worth trying to look through the fog. The sun was right above them, just like the stranger had said. So where was the land they were looking for?

_Oh. **That's** where._

Hiccup's eyes widened as the wall of fog suddenly dissipated to reveal a lush, green country below them. The map said it was an island, but it seemed to stretch on forever. The trees didn't look like the ones on Berk at all; he thought they were on fire at first, but as he flew Toothless lower, he realized that their leaves somehow had the colors of fire. They were so numerous and close together that the ground could hardly be seen. A long, winding river wove its way through the mass of forest, and they began to follow it. Before long, it widened out into a large, placid lake. And on a cliff looking over the lake stood the greatest wonder of all **—** a giant building made completely of stone. It looked as though Odin had carved it from a mountain, carefully etching out the towers and ridges.

"Whaddaya think, Toothless?" Hiccup asked excitedly. "You wanna go check **—** no, Toothless, _wait...!"_

But Toothless was already picking up speed and coasting for the opposite end of the lake.

* * *

Hiccup tried pulling, coaxing, bribing him with fish. None of it worked; Toothless refused to go near the stone building.

"You stay here, then," the boy finally said. "I'll go by myself **— **"

Toothless silenced him with a roar and blocked his path, spreading out his wings and shaking his head vigorously.

"Okay, okay, if that's how you feel about it..."

They gathered some sticks, and Toothless made a fire while Hiccup went to the lakeside with the fishing net. An hour later, they were roasting their catch over the flames and watching the black smoke trail up into the sky.

Once sated, the Night Fury curled up, closed his eyes and was soon asleep. Hiccup put away their supplies, then began to creep away. _I'll go see it myself._

All of a sudden, however, some of the foliage ahead abruptly started to crackle and move quickly. The commotion approached the clearing, and Hiccup watched in surprise as a boy stumbled out of the bushes.

He was ten, perhaps, or maybe younger **—** he was such a wisp of a child that it was hard to tell. There was barely any muscle on his slender frame, and the rumbling of his stomach could be heard from several feet away. His dirty white tunic and brown pants were both threadbare, and his shoes were nearly worn through. His pale face and sandy hair were smeared with grime, and in his eyes was a look of deep-set fear. Upon seeing Hiccup and Toothless, he let loose a blood-curdling scream and tried to run back into the trees, only for Hiccup to grab his arm.

"It's okay," Hiccup said calmly. "You don't have to run."

From behind him, the startled Toothless quietly growled at the boy, who tried to jerk away again.

"He's not going to hurt you," Hiccup continued, giving his dragon a look as he did so. "Who are you running from?"

The boy pointed a trembling finger towards the stone building. _"Mae'r dynion sydd â chroen olewydd."_

"I don't know what that means..."

Before the words could finish leaving his mouth, he found out.

The three of them jumped back as a group of the strangest men Hiccup had ever seen burst from the trees. They had browner skin and darker hair than Vikings, but what really got his attention was how they were dressed. Each wore a bronze-colored helmet from which sprouted plumes of red feathers, leather skirts and strips of leather haphazardly wound around their feet. The leader wore a sword on his belt. They were all carrying long spears, and they all looked pretty angry.

"Um...hello?" Hiccup said, not sure how else to react.

He was answered with a spear hovering mere inches from his face. _"Da nobis pueri," _snarled the biggest and meanest of them as the boy darted behind Hiccup and clung to him.

_Great, more people I can't talk to._ "Look, I don't think I can help you very well with one of those in my face **—** "

The air was pushed out of his lungs as the stranger angrily tossed him aside, picked up the screaming boy and held the point of the sword to his throat.

No one noticed Toothless drawing back into the bushes when the commotion started, but they certainly noticed him emerge. The men screamed as the Night Fury jumped forward, singeing the ground at their feet with little spurts of flame.

Grabbing the boy, Hiccup jumped onto his dragon's back. "It's okay, I've got you," he said as he hooked himself in and put an arm around the child. By now, the men had recovered from their shock and were charging towards the intruders with their spears lowered. Spitting one last flame, Toothless turned and loped off into the forest.

Branches whizzed past their heads, scraping their cheeks. The angry voices quickly faded away, but the call of horns was rising up in the distance. _"Mae'n rhaid i ni fynd i'r dwyrain," _the boy said.

"Toothless, stop for a second."

Both passengers were nearly thrown from the saddle as Toothless skidded to a stop in a clearing. "What were you saying?" Hiccup asked the boy after regaining his balance.

_"Mae'n rhaid i ni fynd i'r dwyrain,"_ the child repeated, pointing a bony finger to their left.

"Do you want us to go that way...?"

A sharp whistling filled the air for a millisecond before a spear shot past his head and embedded itself in a tree. Before he could finish processing what had happened, more soldiers had materialized from the shade and surrounded them, their square shields blocking the spaces between the bushes. Spears lowered, they charged.

"Good idea, kid. Toothless?"

Toothless gave him a little nod, crouched down and leapt into the air just as the men closed in. They stared at him in shock as he rose higher into the air, and he gave them one last fireball for good measure. Uttering a deep, laughter-like ululation as he watched them scatter, he finally allowed Hiccup to steer him away. After a time, they were only a speck on the horizon, and after another time, they weren't even that.

* * *

Half an hour later, another of the great mountain buildings lay below them. Thatched roofs and watchtowers **—** not unlike those back on Berk **—** surrounded it, and dozens of people were flowing about. A wall of rock connected the towers, enclosing the whole settlement, and men in simple, rusty armor stood upon it and looked down on the countryside.

Hiccup was about as interested in this place as Toothless had been in the first one, but the boy was pointing down at it expectantly. "Are you sure?"

He nodded, gently patting his sleeve as he did so.

"Okay, here goes nothing..."

They landed right outside the wall, in front of a tall opening flanked by guards. The men backed away when they saw Toothless, but they seemed to relax a bit when the boy jumped from his back. _"Peidiwch â bod ofn arnynt," _he said as he walked towards them. _"Maent wedi arbed i mi."_Reaching into his sleeve, he pulled out a thin scroll and held it out to one of the guards.

Staring at it in amazement, the guard snatched it from his hands and ran off towards the mountain building.

Smiling proudly, the boy turned back to Hiccup and Toothless. _"Dylech ddod a bodloni ein arglwydd,"_ he said, motioning for them to come through the wall.

Hiccup shook his head. "We should leave now," he answered while pointing at the sky.

The boy looked at him pensively, then nodded. _"Diolch i chi am eich caredigrwydd."_

Toothless leapt into flight again, and the pair's friend watched them fly over the castle and towards the sunset.

In the years to come, long after the last battle that had finally driven the Romans from Britain, the people spoke of how the child sent to retrieve the enemies' plans for combat was saved from death and brought home by a black winged beast and a rider who spoke in a foreign tongue.

They did not forget it, and neither did the Romans.

* * *

**NEXT PROMPT: Rivalry**

* * *

**Yes, I know the Romans were long gone by the time HTTYD supposedly takes place. But you know what? It's a fantasy, and it's in the books. I liked the idea of having some recurring villains, and these guys won't exactly be easy to avoid.**

**To be perfectly honest, I think this could've been lots better. But maybe that's just me. Bye for now.**

**~ A. Kingsleigh**


	4. Rivalry

**DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, it's not mine.**

* * *

_It doesn't seem to matter where you go,_ Hiccup wrote_.__ When you start watching people, you realize that they aren't really that different. __**Especially**__ when they're fighting._

They had flown to the northern end of the large island called Britain, trying above all to avoid being noticed. The wind quickly grew colder, and within a few days, a sprinkling of snow covered the ground. There were no more of the feathered soldiers, but the palaces of stone remained. They were not built by the gods, as Hiccup had first thought, but by the locals. He had flown over an unfinished one by chance, and the remainder of that day was happily spent on a nearby cliffside watching as the workers carved out the blocks of stone, hauled them up and stuck them into place.

Closing his journal, Hiccup looked down from the concealment of the wide, leafy tree on the scene playing out below him. He winced each time the angry, rhythmic clatter of the swords interrupted the afternoon silence, each time one of the men wielding them seemed close to stumbling. Why hadn't their noise woken Toothless yet?

He'd only expected to leave the Night Fury sleeping in their cave for an hour or so, just long enough to scramble up a tree and sketch the view. He had nearly finished when the cacophony of yelling and clanging shattered his solace.

There were two of them, yellow-haired and wearing chain mail vests over their furs and cloth. One man had several scars on his face and arms, and the shadow of a beard was forming on his chin. Brothers, perhaps. They were chasing each other around the base of the tree, brandishing blades so large they had to be held in both hands. To escape unnoticed would be impossible; Hiccup could only hope the branch he sat on didn't break and watch as they jabbed and slashed and lunged.

Hiccup had heard stories about this sort of thing happening back on Berk Maybe the younger man had challenged the elder for his birthright, or their father had sent them off to have this battle. Either way, the winner would become his family's heir and the loser wouldn't be leaving the clearing alive. That was how his tribe did it, anyway **— **it had been his unspoken fate all his life.

He suppressed a gasp as the younger man tripped and tumbled backwards into the snow, his sword falling from his hand. _This is it,_ Hiccup thought, biting his lip as he peered through the branches.

The older man calmly walked to his opponent and loomed over him. Putting down his own sword and picking up the fallen one, he brushed it off and held it back out to his rival handle-first **— **wait, _what?_

Hiccup leaned forward, watching with shock as the defeated warrior accepted his weapon with a smile and allowed his would-be executioner to help him back onto his feet. Laughing, they clapped each other on the back and began chattering in their native tongue, seemingly complimenting one another.

Had he been witness to a game? Fighting just for the fun of it? You could actually _do_ that?

Hiccup watched the men gather their things and walk off into the forest. He half wished he could follow them, but he contented himself with opening his journal again and writing a few more sentences.

_People all look the same when you first start watching them. But when you **keep** watching them, you notice all the little things that make them different. And that's the fun part._

The sun was setting, he noticed as he slid down the tree. Toothless would come looking for him if he didn't get back soon. Maybe they could go looking for a village tomorrow **— **there were plenty more notes to be made.

* * *

**NEXT PROMPT: Unbreakable**


	5. Unbreakable

**DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.**

* * *

_Let's go test the new harness,_ he'd said. _I think I've worked the problems out,_ he'd said. There had still been a few hiding within the strength of the leather strap, apparently, or else he would have more between him and the ocean than a rapidly decreasing distance.

"Toothless!" he screamed hoarsely as he flailed about. _"TOOTHLESS!"_

There were nothing but clouds above him and next to him, and he couldn't even see the shadow of his dragon within them._ Odin, cut me a little slack and let it be over quick, okay?_

He began to hyperventilate as he fell out of the clouds and came face to face with the water. It was zooming up to meet him now — two hundred feet, one hundred feet, fifty feet, ten feet, ten _inches _**—**

_FWISH!_

Hiccup felt his breath squeezed out of him as a pair of black paws grabbed his torso and stopped his fall with a jolt. He was close enough to reach out and touch the water before hearing Toothless' wings beat and being lifted back into the sky. "Thanks, bud..."

Toothless looked down at his rider and smiled with his gums.

* * *

As they took shelter in another strange new land that night, Hiccup examined the broken strap. "We'll have to find a town. I'm gonna need more leather. Not tonight!" he added quickly as the dragon gave him a quizzical look. "First thing tomorrow morning."

When he lay down, Toothless took him up in his paws and wrapped a wing around him.

_The strap can break,_ Hiccup thought as he drifted off with a smile, _but we won't._

* * *

**I know, I know, I haven't been paying as much attention to this as you want me to. The truth is, I didn't have much in the way of ideas for the prompts. Until I saw the teaser trailer for HTTYD 2 and churned this out in half an hour. :)**

**~ A. Kingsleigh**


	6. Obsession

**DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.**

* * *

Toothless's grasp of humans and their culture was slim at best. They had clamored for his head on a pike back in the Viking lands, and in this place, they hardly seemed to notice him. Why couldn't they be consistent?

From the large number of people and the bright decorations adorning the houses and stalls, he guessed that they had happened upon a celebration of some kind. "Stay here, bud," Hiccup told him as they reached the outskirts of the town. "I'll try to be back in a little bit."

The Night Fury scowled at this but slumped to the ground and watched his rider disappear into the fray. Exactly how long was a little bit? He wanted to get flying again! He didn't like the look of this gathering. What were these humans all here for, anyway?

That was when he heard it — the music. The gentle plucking of strings accompanied by light, airy notes like those of singing birds. Some of the people were singing along; he could not understand their language, but it sounded like a very cheerful tune. Emerging from the bushes, he began to follow the wonderful noise. People stared at him in awe and whispered amongst each other as he passed, but none of them attacked. How strange.**  
**

It soon became clear to Toothless that the music was coming from the center of town. Weaving through the crowd, he stepped into a large circular clearing where a tall pole had been erected. Ribbons of bright colors grew from the top of this pole, and the people surrounding it took hold of the other ends. The colors swayed and mixed in time with the music as the revelers danced around with the ribbons in hand.

Sinking back on his haunches, Toothless smiled and bobbed his head around as he watched the dance. So _this_ was what humans did for fun.

* * *

"Well, that could've gone worse..."

There had been a little trouble getting around the language barrier, Hiccup had eventually been able to get himself a decent amount of leather in exchange for some seeds he'd picked up while in Britain. It was new and very soft, much nicer than what the old strap had been made of. "Okay, bud," he called out as he approached the spot where he had left Toothless. "We can go back to the cave now — "

He stopped in his tracks as he noticed the distinct lack of dragon in the bushes. "Toothless?"

The sound of cheering drifted in from the town center, along with a familiar roar. _Oh, no..._

When he reached the clearing, the sight he found was unexpected but certainly not unwelcome. Toothless was hopping about in a sort of dance while the children of the village darted around him, laughing and petting his scales. When he saw Hiccup, he smiled and motioned with his head as though asking him to join in.

Hiccup smiled back. "Come on, Toothless. We gotta go now."

Toothless sat down, narrowed his eyes, laid back his head flaps and stared back in defiance.

"But I thought you _wanted_ to leave."

The dragon shook his head vigorously, then stood back up and resumed his dance.

Hiccup couldn't help laughing. "Well, alright, then." No harm in resting awhile. He sat down and began to work on the new strap, while Toothless reveled in his new obsession until nightfall.

* * *

**I thought it was high time I made one of these be about Toothless. Hope you liked it!**

**~ A. Kingsleigh**


	7. Eternity

**DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.**

* * *

"How long do dragons live, Toothless?"

It wasn't a question that a Viking would ever ask — that would be more along the lines of "What is the quickest way to make a dragon's life as short as possible?" Seeing as he wasn't really a Viking anymore, though, there was nothing wrong with wondering.

He thought of the old tomes that were kept in a chest in the attic of the chief's house. They held recordings of the dragon raids all the way back to when Vikings had first settled on Berk three centuries ago. Each one, he remembered, spoke of a single Night Fury. "How old are _you,_ bud?"

Toothless looked up from his dinner of fish and stared at the boy. He seemed to consider the question for a moment before raising his head plates up and down in a manner not unlike shrugging.

"Do you remember people first coming to Berk?"

He nodded.

"I guess you've seen a lot, then."

Another nod.

"...I'm not gonna live that long."

What would that be like? You'd have all the time in the world, you do everything there was to be done and go wherever you wanted...except where all your friends and family would go. Not for a very long time, at least, or unless you took your own life. And speaking of death, what would happen to Toothless without his rider? Suppose the strap broke again and the dragon wasn't fast enough. He wouldn't be able to fly, he might get trapped somewhere without food, someone might find him and try to kill him...

Toothless sensed that Hiccup was tense and wrapped a paw around him, bringing the boy's thoughts back to the present. "I'm okay, bud," he said. "Just thinking."

They sat in silence before he asked another question. "Do all dragons live forever if someone doesn't kill them?"

Toothless growled in his throat as he nodded, possibly reminded of something unpleasant.

"So I guess you do, right?"

He was answered with a "what do you think 'all dragons' means?" look.

Hiccup's real question was hovering on the tip of his tongue, afraid to come out, but it finally did. "...If you could still fly without me, would you miss me if I was gone?"

To his surprise, the dragon didn't even need to think about it. He nodded his head before resting it in his rider's lap, letting out a deep rumbling purr.

_Good to know someone would, _Hiccup thought. He smiled as he stroked Toothless's scales. _If I could, I'd make sure you won't have to._


End file.
